Stopwatch
by Caramelmoose
Summary: Eir just doesn't understand why heroes are so important, but if it means others are smiling then maybe throwing a few punches isn't the end of the world. Now to get her father to stop saying otherwise...


Smile

Prologue

"Welcome one! Welcome all! To the circus of wonder! Feast your eyes on…" Alf, our ringleader spewed his words to an ever dwindling crowd. Mostly little kids who have yet to develop a quirk or quirkless adults wishing to calm the empty ache within their soles. Mama says it's a pride to be doing daring acrobats without a quirk yet those who come say otherwise. Kids aren't as interested in tight lining. They want fire and ice, fist fighting and odd creatures being treated as a joke. They want unique quirks that scream 'hero'.

I'm not completely sure what that means to be truthful since my whole life was with this ever moving circus. Something about those that make others feel safe by hurting others? Truth be told it makes no sense to me. But if people smile because of these heroes then it's probably a good thing. Mama says the best thing in the world is a smile on another's face...Then again she also says those with quirks are spoiled and undeserving.

Does that mean Eir should stop making young kids smile and laugh if she sees them using quirks? Not that she has the choice anymore. Too think just a week ago she'd lost her right on the ring for such a shameless reason.

Eir can still see mama's fear in vivid colors when she'd fallen from the tightrope, not because the girl had fallen but because she didn't. Mama and the rest of the crew haven't spoken to her since. Eir can only guess her place in the circus was lost the moment she'd shown her quirk. She hadn't meant to, but the crew had recently taken the safety nets away in hopes of scouring more visitors. Eir was so scared when she fell, she really just didn't want to go 'splat' in the ground. She didn't want to hear the kids crying from the shock, to see their aghast faces. She'd much prefer the awed giggles they splurted at her quirk even if it meant she no longer belonged.

Now Alf and mama speak in hushed tones of the future, they speak of their reputation and the dent Eirs quirk created. Whispers have grown after all, weaving through the tents as those watching spoke rumours of the crew faking a lack of quirks. Of the quirks they had hidden allowing for mistakes to never truly happen, for the danger of the situation to be all a ruse.

"Ahaha~" Just as laughter erupts in the crowd, coming from one of the clowns entrance, did Eir finally step away from the tent bag in hand as she let out a huff. Mama hasn't smiled in a week and Eir doesn't like that. So the tiny girl planned to end her mamas sorrow before Alf or another crew member forces the obvious onto the two of them. She'd rather mama continued with her fun in the group than be forced to pay her childs dues.

After all, a smile on another's face is the best thing in the world…

* * *

"Toshi! We should get a cat!" A tiny girl exclaimed gleaming down excitedly into her friends eyes. The boy before her only let out a sigh at this, putting the paper that was in his hands to the side.

"Orphanages are animal free."

His mellow voice brought a pout to the girls face as her cheeks puffed out in thought. "We could always sneak the little guy in…" she mumbled in aversion before jumping excitedly in place as an idea struck her. "And his name would be Meow-Might!" she shouted in total glee. Her friend let out a small smile at this, leaning closer as he huffed a little laugh away.

"Couldn't think of a better name huh?" He joked towards the girl just as she slowed her happy bounces to a small foot hop.

The girls jumping slowed at this as she glared at her feet. "I thought it sounded really good" she muttered as her friend let out a thoughtful hum.

"Purraser-head?" He noted more to himself than the girl before him as he gave a small fond smile at the idea. Tapping his chin in thought he looked back up at the girl.

"That sucks even more" The girl giggled back before thinking more on the name. "Ah! But you do like Eraser-head a lot!" she added. Wiggling her brows while pointedly gleaming at the boys shaggy hair. The boy could only let out a groan before face palming at the girls accusation.

"What yours say?" he finally asked after the girl seemed to calm from her insinuation.

"Hmm?"

"The letter" He added just as the girl blinked rapidly in thought.

"Letter?" She questioned causing the boy to sigh in annoyance.

"Kagome…" He warned only for Kagome's attention to rapidly change directions, from the boy before her to the ground.

"What's even so cool about the hero course, it's not like people in the general course are any lesser…." she grumbled, kicking a rock from under her foot as her friend continued to look at her blankly. "The test was unfair too, Toshi's so cool yet they put him against robots. Toshi can't fight robots! They don't have the mental capacity to be controlled...no wait they can be hijacked can't they? Still! Toshi's academic test should've been enough! Toshi's super smart, Toshi taught Ei-me what a school was and everything! My academic score would've been terrible without Toshi…" The girl rubs her neck at this while the boy just continues to stare. They both know she's rambling.

"Kagome, it's not a big deal if you got accepted." He sighed with a yawn, not from disinterest towards that girl but lack of sleep. "And we both know you taught yourself...I just gave you the books." He noted halfheartedly. Which was true, Eir had been bored without her practice time so she spent her hours reading to cure her boredom. The books were boring, history on quirks just proved her mama's words and made her ache for home, still Eir read and learned and caught up to the uncaring boy.

Maybe she went a bit too fast? She wanted to be the boys equal, yet in her excitement to be in the same class as him she did too much. Now she was going into a stupid hero course and her tired friend would be stuck in some cramp room filled to the brim with jealous men and women who would treat the boy lowly for his quirk and not his actual worth.

"It's not fair" she grunted finally just as the boy decided to get up from his seat. Cracking his numb joints the boy let out a hollow laugh.

"If life was fair, you'd be in happy family instead of a damn orphanage Kagome"

"Hi~toshi~" the girl cried to his retreating form, latching onto his limbs as she fake cried over his words. The boy looked at her with a sad smile before leading the two kids to their sort-of-home. Neither speaking another word about classes which were a week away.

Though to be fair Eir was just stubbornly pretending neither letter had arrived. She never liked when people didn't smile and Hitoshi's smile always seemed to stutter when it came to his quirk. The girl always got scared when that happened. It reminded her of her mama's face at the recognition of her own quirk. Of those hateful words mama would always say about her father and his quirk and how they now applied to Eir as well.

Eir was a mistake, truthfully the girl lucked out that mama had kept for as long as she had. Most take unwanted children to an orphanage the moment the kid was born, yet Eir was lucky enough to make the decision herself. No wait, Eir didn't know what an orphanage was, she just happened upon the street the place was on during her directionless run…

Eir still remembers the confusion on the adults at a random crying girl running rampant in the streets. Lying was a bit hard when her japanese was a bit messy. Her father must've been japanese though because Eir was able to pass as a lost japanese kid quite easily. The rest took hours of babbling and a few days of hiding missing fliers before Eir was set as an orphan by paper and met her depressed best buddy.

"Ah!" The girl stopped with sudden revelation, pulling Hitoshi back with her as a smile grew upon her face. The boy quirked a brow in question when the girl clamped their hands together. "I just had the most amazing idea Toshi! Guess who's about to be a general student! Heehee, I always forget I can do this." The girl mutters the last part to herself with a pout before stepping away from the other with a skip to her step.

"See you soon big bro~" She giggled just as a curse left her friends lips. Purple smoke wove about her body before all went dark and the girls mind moved backwards.


End file.
